


The Flag

by JustAnotherMaybe



Series: College Changes [1]
Category: The Society (TV 2019)
Genre: AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-12
Updated: 2019-07-12
Packaged: 2020-06-27 04:41:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19783465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustAnotherMaybe/pseuds/JustAnotherMaybe
Summary: Grizz discovers the beauty of color, after living life in black and white for so long.





	The Flag

**Author's Note:**

  * For [The_Real_Squoose](https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Real_Squoose/gifts).



> So this is just a sort of prologue to the story College Changes. The_Real_Squoose had mentioned something about Sam's anxiety about the flag in Grizz's room, and it made me want to write about how the flag even came to be. So, this one's a gift to them, because that comment inspired me to write this! I just sat down and wrote, so it could be completely a mess, but I felt like it was a nice little addition to the story. :)

Grizz wandered down the town’s small main street, amazed by the beauty of the colors he saw around him. There were countless shades of red, hundreds of blues, and greens more vibrant than he’d ever realized. It was beautiful, and there was serenity and freedom in the chaos of it all. Looking forward to his college experience, he was excited at the chance of finding serenity and freedom in the chaos of life there, too.

Grizz had always known he’d been gay, but he had never trusted himself to tell the world. There was too much chaos, he’d always feared – how was he supposed to find beauty among the drab blacks and greys of the closet? Hidden away from the world, unable to feel the warmth of acceptance, he had been trapped in greyscale for so long – until he finally came out to someone.

That someone had been Luke. The conversation had gone shockingly well – Grizz had never imagined that coming out could be that smooth. That morning, he’d asked Luke to meet him at the coffee shop by the library. He could barely drive, he was shaking so much. He couldn’t believe he was about to tell someone.

“I’m gay,” he’d said. It had taken him two seconds to say – less time than it had taken for their coffee to be ready.

“Okay,” said Luke. “That explains why you could never get a girlfriend.”

“Hey! I totally could have, if I tried.”

“But you didn’t.”

“Yeah.”

“You know, I’m bi, right?”

Grizz had almost choked on his coffee. He had known Luke for years, found out his every secret, but he’d somehow missed the one where Luke wasn’t straight, either. “What,” Grizz sputtered.

“Yeah. Like, really bi. Did you not know? Shit, thought I told you.”

Over the course of the morning, Grizz and Luke discussed their sexualities – it was a more in-depth conversation than Grizz had expected to have. He found out that Luke and Helena had bonded over finding Elle pretty, and that they’d shared their first kiss after Luke admitted he agreed with Helena about a certain football player being handsome, in his dorkiness. He and Helena talked about it frequently, forgetting that it was supposed to be a secret. Six years later, he and Helena were the perfect couple, enjoying picnics in the park as much as they loved watching all of the runners.

Grizz had told Luke that he’d known he was gay ever since they had gone to summer camp, and Grizz had met this handsome guy in his cabin. They’d spent the entire week together, practically inseparable. He hadn’t understood that wanting to kiss his new friend at the closing campfire was weird, or that it was wrong – he just knew he couldn’t because you weren’t allowed to kiss at camp. It wasn’t until he got in the car, on the way home, that he heard his aunt and uncle, who’d picked him up, complaining about his cousin and his boyfriend, that he realized that he wasn’t allowed to like boys.

He’d started breaking the rules more, after that. Drinking with his friends, or smoking what Clark gave him – he stopped caring about those rules, as much.

**

The first photo happened, because Grizz had never seen a flower that red before. He’d pulled out his phone and captured the image, encaptivated by the beauty of the rose. It had been outside of the library – as he walked in, he noticed that they had set up a new exhibit. For June, the librarians had set up several books about pride. Grizz could only imagine how poorly that was being received by the townspeople, but he appreciated the rebelliousness of the old ladies behind the desk.

The display had a flag behind it – on each color, there was a word.

_Red - Life_

_Orange - Healing_

_Yellow - Sunshine_

_Green - Nature_

_Blue - Harmony_

_Purple – Spirit_

He thought back to the rose, sitting outside. He had an idea.

**

Moving into the tiny room, he couldn’t help but wonder who would be living next to him. As soon as his parents left him, he decided it was time to hang up his photos.

Over the summer, he had taken countless photos. At the end of every day, he would upload them to his laptop, and looked for colors that corresponded to their meanings on the pride flag. He’d isolate that color, and greyscale the rest – focusing in on the motif. He’d collected thousands of photos, but he’d only brought about 60 with him. They were the ones that meant the most to him.

They were photos like Helena and Luke’s shirts, the day they’d both worn blue. The summer dress that Becca had worn, its deep lavender reminding Grizz of the amount of fight the small girl had in her. The green of the leaves on the trees that surrounded his favorite lake, deep in the woods. His favorite photo, though, was the one right under the photo of his rose.

He’d seen Sam Eliot, walking down the street. Sam had on a red shirt, and his hair was as fiery as ever in the summer sun. Grizz couldn’t help but think that there was something unmistakably full of life in his smile, and, from down the street, Grizz had immortalized the moment on his camera. The out, proud, deaf boy, whose courage and strength Grizz had admired for years, was the perfect symbol for life. Grizz smiled at the photo of the other boy, wanting to live life as fearlessly as Sam had, the day he chose to come out. 

Grizz had wanted to ask Sam out, during his senior year. He hadn't even found the courage to say hello, let alone ask him if he wanted to get coffee. Staring at his wall - at the photo of Sam, Grizz promised himself that college would be different. He would be different. 

He heard a commotion in the other half of the suite – one of his two roommates had started to move in.


End file.
